Thread: Farmer lying about paper road?

A friend of mine who works at the local council told me that when the council receives an application to close a ULR, if there has been no public use or interest in that road recorded by the council, closure will be approved with the stroke of a pen and not need to be gazetted.

What is the importance and implication of the above ? In application the landowner, if they can bluff and exclude the public from using the section of public land that is the road (ULR), can at no cost convert a public asset to freehold title. So a 20mtr wide ULR stretching one kilometer is two hectares and will have a value of between $20,000 and $100,000 commonly. A form of legalised squatters rights / land grab.
This is land that was excluded from the original farm purchase but that they have occupied and earnt income off for years and can now sell with the property

Dont be fooled that this is a rare occurrence, and bs it is common now since Tenor Review.

A parallel would be a gang with HQ next to a council reserve in town occupying the reserve, fencing it off and applying to the council for the reserve to be added to their adjoining freehold title because the public havent used it for years